The Aloe by Katherine Mansfield

pushed up the path and standing in front of her, he pulled off his cap, his rough face full of pity. ‘I’ve bad news for you Mam’ . . . ‘Dead?’ cried Dora clasping her hands. ‘Both dead?’” . . . Or since the Burnells had come to live at Tarana . . . She woke at the middle of the night. The room was full of a strange glare. “Richard! Richard wake! Tarana is on fire” – . At last all were taken out – they stood on the blackened grass watching the flames rage. Suddenly – the cry went up, Where was Mrs Fairfield. God! Where was she. “Mother!” cried Dora, dropping onto her knees on the wet grass. “Mother.” And then she saw her Mother appear at an upper window – Just for a moment she seemed to faintly waver – There came a sickening crash . . . .
    These dreams were so powerful that she would turn over buried her face in the ribbon work cushion and sobbed. But they were a profound secret – and Doady’s melancholy was always put down to her dreadful headaches . . . “Hand over the scissors Beryl and I’ll snip them off now.” “Doady! You are to do nothing of the kind,” said Beryl handing her two pairs of scissors to choose from – The poppies were snipped off. “I hope you will really like Tarana” she said, sitting back in her chair and sipping her tea. “Of course it is at its best now but I can’t help feeling a little afraid that it will be very damp in the winter. Don’t you feel that, Mother? The very fact that the garden is so lovely is a bad sign in a way – and then of course it is quite in the valley – isn’t it – I mean it is lower than any of the other houses.” “I expect it will be flooded from the autumn to the spring” said Linda: “we shall have to set little frog traps Doady, little mouse traps in bowls of water baited with a spring of watercress instead of a piece of cheese – And Stanley will have to row to the office in an open boat. He’d love that. I can imagine the glow he would arrive in and the way he’d measure his chest twice a day to see how fast it was expanding.” “Linda you are very silly – very” said Mrs Fairfield. “What can you expect from Linda,” said Dora “she laughs at everything. Everything. I often wonder if there will ever be anything that Linda will not laugh at.” “Oh, I’m a heartless creature!” said Linda. She got up and went over to her Mother. “Your cap is just a tiny wink crooked, Mamma” said she, and she patted it straight with her quick little hands and kissed her Mother. “A perfect little icicle” she said and kissed her again. “You mean you love to think you are” said Beryl, and she blew into her thimble, popped it on and drew the white satin dress towards her – and in the silence that followed she had a strange feeling – she felt her anger like a little serpent dart out of her bosom and strike at Linda. “Why do you always pretend to be so indifferent to everything,” she said. “You pretend you don’t care where you live, or if you see anybody or not, or what happens to the children or even what happens to you. You can’t be sincere and yet you keep it up – you’ve kept it up for years – In fact” – and she gave a little laugh of joy and relief to be so rid of the serpent – she felt positively delighted – “I can’t even remember when it started now – Whether it started with Stanley or before Stanley’s time or after you’d had rheumatic fever or when Isabel was born –” “Beryl” said Mrs Fairfield sharply. “That’s quite enough, quite enough!” But Linda jumped up. Her cheeks were very white. “Don’tstop her Mother” she cried, “she’s got a perfect right to say whatever she likes. Why on earth shouldn’t she.” “She has not” said Mrs Fairfield. “She has no right what ever.” Linda opened her eyes at her Mother. “What a way to contradict anybody,” she said. “I’m ashamed of you – And how Doady must be enjoying herself. The very